Mini Pumpkin Cheesecakes

If you love pumpkin pie and cheesecake, you’re going to flip over this crazy delicious dessert hybrid! These Mini Pumpkin Cheesecakes are perfect for Halloween parties, Thanksgiving dessert, or just because! The cheesecake filling is made with pumpkin puree and pumpkin pie spices, so it’s bursting with pumpkin flavor.

Mini Pumpkin Cheesecake Recipe

It’s no secret the only thing I love more than cheesecake is a mini cheesecake situation! They’re so cute, so creamy, and so much easier than baking a whole cheesecake. That’s because they’re baked in a muffin pan, and don’t require the fuss of a water bath, or an overnight chilling session.

Mini Pumpkin Cheesecake Ingredients:

Graham Crackers Crumbs: I suggest buying the pre-crushed graham cracker crumbs, which makes measuring a breeze! But you can definitely make your own by processing a few sheets of graham crackers though a food processor. You want them to be super fine crumbs!
Granulated Sugar: Sweetens our crust without adding too much moisture (so it bakes up nice and crispy!).
Salt: I suggest fine sea salt, but whatever you have on hand will work.
Melted Butter: I prefer unsalted, but if you only have salted, simply omit the salt called for in the graham cracker crust.
Cream Cheese: Full-fat! And be sure your cream cheese is softened before blending, otherwise when you go to beat the cream cheese, it’ll clump up. And could even damage your food processor/blender/mixer. You’ll want to let it sit out in a warm area for at least 30 minutes, but ideally an hour.
Pumpkin Puree: NOT PUMPKIN PIE MIX! Which is loaded with spices and sugars and stuff we don’t want. Homemade pumpkin puree will work, but the texture will vary because the water content of homemade pumpkin puree is often higher than canned pumpkin.
Sour Cream: Full-fat and at room temperature! If you cannot find sour cream, your best bet is full-fat greek yogurt, which will add a similar thick and creamy texture to the cheesecakes.

Molasses: Enhances the pumpkin flavor. Use regular strength molasses, not the blackstrap variety, which is too overpowering for this recipe.

Brown Sugar: I prefer light brown sugar, but dark brown sugar will work in a pinch. If you’re not weighing your ingredients, be sure to pack the brown sugar into the measuring cup when measuring.

Vanilla Extract: Always use pure vanilla, and not imitation vanilla! A bourbon vanilla extract would also be lovely in this recipe.
Eggs: You’ll need one whole egg and one egg yolk. You may discard the egg white or save it for another use.
Spices: Cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and cloves make up our homemade pumpkin spice blend! If you prefer to use pumpkin spice instead, I suggest using 2 and 1/2 teaspoons in place of all of the called for spices.
Flour: Just a pinch thickens up the batter, yielding dense but creamy pumpkin cheesecakes.
Heavy Cream: Aka whipping cream! Do not sub with milk… or anything else!

How to Make Mini Pumpkin Cheesecakes
Be sure to preheat the oven at least 30 minutes before you plan on baking. Line a 12-cup muffin tin with cupcake liners. Lightly spray the liners with nonstick baking spray to ensure your mini cheesecakes don’t stick! (If you want to use a mini muffin tin, this recipe will yield about 24 mini cheesecakes. Reduce the baking time by 5 minutes).

Make your cheesecake filling! Blend your filling until super smooth. But make sure you blend on low speed once the eggs have been added.
Divide the filling evenly, pouring it on top of the crust. Bake until puffed up and just a little bit jiggly in the center.
Keep the mini cheesecakes in the pan and cool completely. Then place the pan in the fridge to chill for at least 3 hours. If you try to serve them before they’re fully chilled, they’ll be too soft and kind of mushy in texture. So plan ahead time wise.

When ready to serve, top with whipped cream (store-bought or homemade) and garnish with a sprinkle of cinnamon or a drizzle of salted caramel sauce, if desired.